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Elassoma Gilberti

Started by Guest_Okiimiru_* , Aug 22 2010 01:19 PM

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1023 replies to this topic

#81 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 15 September 2010 - 04:38 PM

Have you ever seen your Elassoma eat flake food?
I thought no one feeds them flake because they will not eat it?

I used a mortar and pestle to grind up BettaMin® brand flakes into extremely small bits. Because they're bright red, fish are usually interested in them. They stay on the surface of the water for hours, moving around in small patterns as the current pushes them.

I can't positively say that I saw any of the Elassoma eat the flakes because I only rarely saw the Elassoma. But they must have been. Aside from a small portion of moina and daphnia initially introduced when the tank was set up, the only food I gave them was microworms and flake food. The fish haven't starved to death yet, so they probably did eat crushed flakes or microworms.

Edited by Okiimiru, 15 September 2010 - 04:40 PM.

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#82 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 15 September 2010 - 05:24 PM

Flake food may "work" for fish that don't actually eat it in the sense that scavenging worms, rotifers, cyclops, cladocerans, snails, etc feed on it, and in turn become fish food. This strategy of growing live food IN the fish tank can work (sometimes)for tiny fish at very low density with lots of structure (which is how we usually keep pygmies anyway).

I just saw something about frozen prawn eggs (from a fish shop in Charlotte NC) with a claim that it's good for feeding Dario, mandarins, and pipefish - all usually life-food-only fishes. I wonder if anyone's tried prawn eggs for pygmies?

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#83 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 15 September 2010 - 08:20 PM

Woot! It IS a fry! Which means that the Elassoma gilberti bred when they were only being fed flake food. omg success XD

Picture:

006resize.jpg 65.85KB 4 downloads

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#84 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 16 September 2010 - 08:00 PM

Wow. I was watching the male (stealthily. He did not know I was there) and he changed from a dark brown with blue edged fins to a solid opaque black with neon blue on him in literally two seconds. I guess he'd caught sight of a female or something. Wish I'd had my camera.

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#85 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 17 September 2010 - 12:23 AM

That is a positive harbinger of impending mortality...

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#86 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 18 September 2010 - 02:09 PM

That is a positive harbinger of impending mortality...

um okay.

Edited by Okiimiru, 18 September 2010 - 02:18 PM.

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#87 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 19 September 2010 - 12:55 PM

Yay, more fry! These ones are super super tiny. Like two black eyeballs on a clear line.

Update: Never in my life have I met anything so resistant to photography as these tiny fry. Even when I videotape them, all you can see is the sand. They are the same size as a grain of sand. How tiny! How cute! How difficult to share with other people! *sighs*

Update: All of these babies make me wonder something. If they all live and grow up to be adult fish, they'll overpopulate their tank eventually. Is it legal to sell or give Elassoma gilberti to other people? I live in Ohio, and the fish aren't native to Ohio, and I have a fishing license. So... can I?

Edited by Okiimiru, 19 September 2010 - 01:26 PM.

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#88 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 19 September 2010 - 11:27 PM

So... can I?

No. You will be immediately arrested. Jailed, even. Or sent to The Farm.

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#89 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 20 September 2010 - 08:41 AM

Is it legal to sell or give Elassoma gilberti to other people?

So... can I?

I think it is legal to give, but selling may be problematic (unless you have specific licenses to sell fish as a business).

Trade and barter are other interesting options, that I assume are less regulated (and would therefore be less likely to result in any of those activities metioned by the previous poster).

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#90 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 20 September 2010 - 09:30 AM

I think it is legal to give, but selling may be problematic (unless you have specific licenses to sell fish as a business).

Does anyone have any more information on those 'specific licenses to sell fish as a business'?

Also, here is a photo of the juvenile male. He is much less shy than the other fish.
And even the other three (two females, one male) are becoming less shy now.

070resize.jpg 46.43KB 5 downloads

He blanched a bit when I was taking the photo (this is the second or third one I took of him,
and he got shyer and shyer the longer the evil camera lense/mouth was up against the glass).
But I still think he's pretty.

Edit: And keep in mind, this cute little fish is only half an inch long. So tiny! XD

Edited by Okiimiru, 20 September 2010 - 09:35 AM.

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#91 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 20 September 2010 - 10:12 AM

Wow he looks good for just half an inch. Gonna be really stunning as he grows!
But keep in mind that "blue = enemy" in a male Elassoma's brain.

Re selling, that's a state-by-state decision, as long as you're not selling protected or banned species. Since it's not native to OH and not protected or banned, I think it would be treated just like any aquarium fish. Ask your Ohio-DNR if there's any regs about selling home-grown aquarium fish.

Edited by gerald, 20 September 2010 - 10:16 AM.

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#92 Guest_Drew_*

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Posted 20 September 2010 - 11:03 AM

Is it legal to sell or give Elassoma gilberti to other people? I live in Ohio, and the fish aren't native to Ohio, and I have a fishing license. So... can I?

Even though the species is not native to OH, you may need an aquaculture license in order to breed and sell. Talk with Brian (smbass) and Matt (Skipjack) as they both aquaculture fish and have licenses to sell in the state of OH. They will know better than I.

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#93 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 20 September 2010 - 10:02 PM

Yes, to be legal, you need an aquaculture permit to breed and sell any fish in Ohio. They do not enforce it heavily on a small scale because of all of the tropical breeders who sell a few fish here, and there. Native fish are a bit of a different ballgame. If you want to sell your Elassoma, you should apply for a permit, and state the fish you plan to propagate. You might have to write a letter and get them approved. They will be approved, and you can move forward without any fears. Being a NANFA member, I personally think it is important to keep this above board, and 100% legal. It makes our organization look much better in the eyes of the state if we comply with all wildlife laws. Here is a good place to start, http://www.dnr.state...38/Default.aspx It really is inexpensive, only $50 per year, and comes with bait dealers license, and transportation license. If you plan to sell any wild caught fish under the bait dealers license, keep in mind the VHS regulations, especially since you are in the lake Erie drainage. Good luck!

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#94 Guest_Elijah_*

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Posted 20 September 2010 - 11:21 PM

Does anyone have any more information on those 'specific licenses to sell fish as a business'?

Also, here is a photo of the juvenile male. He is much less shy than the other fish.
And even the other three (two females, one male) are becoming less shy now.

070resize.jpg 46.43KB 5 downloads

He blanched a bit when I was taking the photo (this is the second or third one I took of him,
and he got shyer and shyer the longer the evil camera lense/mouth was up against the glass).
But I still think he's pretty.

Edit: And keep in mind, this cute little fish is only half an inch long. So tiny! XD

Nice. He has great color!

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#95 Guest_Okiimiru_*

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Posted 21 September 2010 - 10:39 AM

I personally think it is important to keep this above board, and 100% legal. It makes our organization look much better in the eyes of the state if we comply with all wildlife laws. Here is a good place to start, http://www.dnr.state...38/Default.aspx

I think so, too. Thank you for the link; now I know exactly what to do when the Elassoma overpopulate their current home.

The fry have full bellies, by the way. They're so cute. ^_^
And I removed the shrimp from the aquarium and put them in my main tank (they'll be fine there) because they were eating all of the fry's microworms.
Everything's going well.

Edited by Okiimiru, 21 September 2010 - 10:40 AM.

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#96 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 30 September 2010 - 06:24 PM

Update:
The babies are growing big and strong.
There are dozens of them. ^_^

Can you spot the single fry in this photo, which was taken two or three days after they hatched?

008resize.jpg 91.07KB 2 downloads

And the parents are much less shy. They let me take photos of them now.
This photo is like the tenth I took, and the male didn't blanch all too badly:

007resize.jpg 27.42KB 3 downloads

And this female is full of eggs:

001resize.jpg 26.9KB 1 downloads

Edited by EricaWieser, 30 September 2010 - 07:08 PM.

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#97 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 04 October 2010 - 03:09 AM

I posted another video to youtube of the male courting the female. I think they actually were spawning, but that I interrupted them. The funny thing is that it was completely dark outside and the time of day didn't seem to matter. Maybe my lights (which aren't that bright) simulate twilight.

Video link:

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#98 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 07 October 2010 - 02:37 PM

Update:
The fry are growing up to be big and strong. Some are already approaching half an inch, which is surprising. They grew really quickly. One, which unfortunately refuses to be photographed, is already striped brown and clear.

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#99 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 17 October 2010 - 04:51 PM

There are dozens and dozens and dozens of babies. This is getting to be a little extreme. I went to go capture five of the larger juvenile-sized babies to put them in my 55 gallon tank to see how they do in there (probably overpopulate there, too) and there were literally so many young that when I stuck in my cup to pull one out, I would pull out two.

So, the update is, there are now 5 or so little Elassoma gilberti juveniles in my 55 gallon tank. I hope they do well in there, because then I won't need to keep two separate tanks. The goal is to only have one tank.
I'm sure they'll be fine; they're too large for my swordtails or bettas to eat, not that they'd try, and there's quite a lot of plants for them to feel comfortable in.

Picture:

020resize.jpg 160.41KB 0 downloads

Video:

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#100 Guest_EricaWieser_*

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Posted 17 October 2010 - 08:28 PM

Update:
One of the two lights that I have (the ones that said, "No Servicable Parts Inside") broke a little bit and the plastic light covering came off. Well, I looked at it (the covering goes right back on, snaps into place) and saw that the bulb inside is ... drumroll please ... an 18 inch fluorescent strip. With normal fluorescent tube ending prongs! Boo yah, "no servicable parts" my behind. I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow and picking up some full spectrum 18 inch fluorescent bulbs and replacing these nasty "warm white" bulbs with full spectrum ones. Yaaaay.

In the future, I will not trust the "No Servicable Parts" label. I will break it apart, like a good engineering major, and find out for myself. ^_^